Communicating Numeric Risk Information to Patients

Risk information is increasingly available to health care providers and patients thanks to a growing body of health outcomes research and clinical prediction models. Meanwhile, communicating such information is encouraged for a variety of reasons. Yet clinicians often struggle to communicate risk information-or forego the task altogether due to various challenges. The challenges are real, and this paper briefly discusses six of them: (1) Clinician reliance on verbal risk descriptions, (2) Low patient numeracy; (3) Lack of meaningful numeric evidence; (4) Patient use of heuristics; (5) Uncertain risk information; and (6) The curse of knowledge. Specific strategies exist for clinicians, though, to overcome these complex challenges. In the paper, we present evidence-based best practices with examples of what clinicians can do to effectively communicate risk information to their patients (and what they should not do). The best practices include communicating with numbers, not only words; decreasing cognitive effort for patients; providing the meaning of numeric risk data important to decisions; acknowledging uncertainty; and testing communication with patients through teach-back techniques. We conclude by recommending that clinicians integrate these strategies into their existing scripts for patient encounters.